Tunnel multi gallery

ABSTRACT

Railway tunnel of circular section with two lines, constructed with tunnel boring machine, having a separating wall, disposed at the middle of the tunnel, and a slab, placed slightly over the bottom of the tunnel, forming two independent and isolated railway galleries, disposed side by side, one for each line, and a service gallery. The separating wall is resistant to fire and to the piston effect of the trains, and disposes of large openings, provided with fire doors, regularly spaced along the length of the tunnel. The slab disposes of openings, placed close to the circular wall, on both sides and regularly spaced and protected with fire devices of box type. The service gallery is provided with emergency vehicles of shuttle type, which may circulate suspended from the slab.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of PCT Application No. PCT/PT2007/000044 filed Oct. 12, 2008 which claims priority to PT 103769 filed Jun. 25, 2007.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the construction of railway tunnels of circular section, with two lines, allowing for completely independent, but interconnected, ways of traffic, and for easy local access and the safe evacuation of people, in the case of accident or fire inside the tunnel.

2. Background Art

The construction of railway tunnels with tunnel boring machines is a solution increasingly used, for both economic and environmental reasons.

With this referred technique, the machine excavates the soil and places precast segments around the tunnel surface, in order to form the wall of the tunnel, which becomes circular shaped. Afterwards a filling on the bottom of the tunnel is executed, creating a platform for the circulation of the trains, with the two ways of traffic placed side by side.

In the case of long tunnels for high speed trains, due to the piston effect of the trains and to the requirements for fire safety, this solution is problematic, being necessary to build two separated tunnels, one for each way of traffic. As a consequence, the trains cannot pass from one gallery to the other. Additionally, it will be necessary to build a third tunnel and/or a system of galleries and shafts, for local access and the evacuation of people, in the case of accident or fire inside the tunnel.

Document EP1191186A1 refers to a tunnel with a separating wall at the middle, but it is a tunnel for road transport. Furthermore, the separating wall does not allow for the passage of the vehicles from one gallery to the other.

Document NL1013595C also refers to a tunnel with a separating wall at the middle, but the wall is not continuous in height, not allowing for the isolation of the railway galleries.

Document JP2004270345 also refers to a tunnel with a separating wall at the middle, but the wall exists only at the entrances of the tunnel, thus, it will not allow for the isolation of the railway galleries.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The tunnel multi gallery is a railway tunnel of circular section (1) with two lines, constructed with tunnel boring machine, characterized by having a separating wall (2), disposed at the middle of the tunnel, and a slab (3), placed slightly over the bottom of the tunnel, in order to form two independent and isolated railway galleries, disposed side by side (4) (5), one for each line, and a service gallery (6).

The separating wall (2) is resistant to fire and to the piston effect of the trains, and disposes of large openings (7), provided with fire doors, regularly spaced along the length of the tunnel, in order to allow for the passage of the trains from one line to the other, in the case one of the lines became out of service.

The slab (3) disposes of openings (8), placed close to the circular wall (1), on both sides and regularly spaced and protected with fire devices of box type (10), in order to allow for the safe passage of people to the service gallery, in the case of an accident or fire inside the tunnel.

The service gallery (6) is provided with emergency vehicles of shuttle type (9), which may circulate suspended from the slab (3), in order to allow for local access of personnel and the evacuation of people, in case of accident or fire inside the tunnel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the tunnel;

FIG. 2 is the current cross section of the tunnel;

FIG. 3 is the cross section of the tunnel through openings on the slab;

FIG. 4 is the longitudinal section of the tunnel; and

FIG. 5 is a top plan cross-sectional view of the tunnel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

The tunnel boring machine excavates the soil and places precast segments around the tunnel surface, which are clamped together, in order to form the wall of the tunnel (1), which will be circular shaped.

Inside the tunnel thus formed, a separating wall (2) is built, disposed at the middle of the tunnel and at all height, resistant to fire and to the pressure due to the piston effect of the trains, and a slab (3), placed slightly over the bottom of the tunnel and at all its width, in order to form two independent and isolated railway galleries (4) (5), disposed side by side, one for each line, and a service gallery (6), with one or two cellules.

In the separating wall (2) large openings are arranged (7), provided with fire doors, regularly spaced along the length of the tunnel, in order to allow for the passage of the trains from one line to the other, in the case one of the lines became out of service.

In the slab (3), openings (8) are arranged, placed close to the circular wall of the tunnel (1), on both sides, regularly spaced and protected with fire devices of box type (10), which are provided with escape doors and interior stairs, in order to allow for safe passage of people to the service gallery, in case of accident or fire inside the tunnel. The fire devices (10) can be extended through the circular wall of the tunnel (1).

Inside the service gallery (6) emergency vehicles of shuttle type (9) are installed, which circulate suspended from the slab (3), in order to allow for local access of personnel and the safe evacuation of people, in case of accident or fire inside the tunnel.

While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. Railway tunnel of circular section with two lines, characterized by having a separating wall, placed at the middle of the tunnel and at all height, resistant to fire and to the piston effect of the trains, provided with large openings, regularly spaced along the length of the tunnel and equipped with fire doors, forming two independent and isolated railway galleries, disposed side by side.
 2. Tunnel according to claim 1, characterized by having a slab, placed slightly over the bottom of the tunnel and at its all width, placed close to the circular wall, on both sides and regularly spaced, and provided with openings protected with fire devices of box type, creating a service gallery, completely isolated.
 3. Tunnel according to claim 2, characterized by the fire devices of box type to be provided with escape doors and interior stairs, allowing for safe passage of people between the railway galleries and the service gallery.
 4. Tunnel according to claim 2, characterized by the service gallery to be provided with emergency vehicles of shuttle type, which may circulate suspended from the slab, allowing for local access and the safe evacuation of people. 